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Over-hyped Products

We don't really do negative reviews, so we thought we'd do a collective review of all the products we'd bought due to hype and either hated, was disappointed by, or like for other reasons.

Elnett Hairspray

K: STINKS, cannot tolerate the smell of this and not sure how this can be the best selling hairspray of all times.

Liz Earle Cleansing Polish

K: A big blogger favourite here in the UK. This irritated my skin slightly and I get really annoyed how when you search for natural/organic skin care in Google Liz Earle used to be the top advertiser. They are neither (not that it's a bad thing, but they were paying Google to promote them as such. Very misleading).

Benefit They're Real Mascara

K: ANOTHER misleading advert. They zoom into the eye with the mascara on ever so slightly to make the eye look bigger (Nigar doesn't agree with this, so we'll agree to disagree)....PLUS I hated the brush. It scratched my eyes and did nothing for my lashes. And I have good lashes. Even cheap mascaras look good on them. This is pants for me.

N: I hated how the brush felt on my lashes, and didn't think the results were worth it to keep using the horrible brush.

Benefit Porefessional Primer

N: I got a tube free from a magazine a few months ago. I am so glad I didn't buy this. I found it doesn't help me in anyway as the hype suggests. My makeup doesn't last any longer, and doesn't look any more amazing.

Benefit Benetint Lip & Cheek Tint

K: Not sure why everyone goes gah gah over this. It really isn't all that. Not even right for my skin tone. I bought this because of all the hype. I looked like a china doll. The kind you that scares you so you can't even sleep.N: Is there anyone else who just can't use this product and always end up looking like you got b*tch slapped?

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion

N: This broke me out. Horribly. I was so disappointed. Im sure my skin is to blame, but still, hate this product. Clinique's all about being dermatologically tested so their products aren't supposed to cause your skin to break out in spots, but this was just not good for skin.

K: I hate this. I tried it a few times and it did nothing, and I repeat nothing for me. Oh wait it broke me out as well. I don't even have sensitive skin. It smells funny too.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo Moisturiser

N: I like this. I use it. But for a different reason to the hype. A few months ago there was a YouTube ad that went round with bloggers using this as a primer. Er, nah. It's a pathetic primer. Doesn't stay at all.

As a moisturiser I like it, it reduced my breakouts slightly. Didn't completely stop the spots or scars.

Micellar Waters

K: I understand the point of them but they take so so long to remove your makeup. I have used La Roche Posay, Bioderma and Garnier. And I don't have a problem with then product per say but I don't know why I would sit there and take 10 minutes to remove my makeup when I can take it all off in 1 minute by oil cleansing. Just saying. But if you must use one I recommend the Garnier one because it's incredible value for money.

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream

K: Basically an expensive vaseline that stinks. The smells is worse than Elenette. Just vile. Use Vaseline instead if you must.

Vaseline

K: I hate vaseline. It's a cheap cheap product (petroleum jelly made of liquid petroleum which is a by product of crude oil) that does nothing for you. It irritates me when I see people rave on about Vaseline. People who have dry anything and uses vaseline/petroleum based products ALWAYS have to use it or they're dry skin worsens. It creates a barrier where nothing can go in or out of your skin. So it never ever fixes the problem. It temporarily makes it feel/look better. It dries your lips out and clogs pores on your skin. Anything with petroleum has no place being anywhere near your face. Do your skin a favour and skip it. You're worth better than that.

The only time I think Vaseline is a useful product is when you're dying your hair and need to prevent your hair line from staining. It's great for that. Coz it lets nothing through!

Egyptian Magic

N: I tried this years ago. I first heard about it from BubzBeauty, who described it as a multi-purpose cream as it could literally be used for everything. One use was on scars, and this is kind of what sold it for me. It was around £30. And it was not a product I ended up keeping. I didn't feel it helped in anyway for anything, and so I gave it to my best friend. Im sure it must have worked for some people, but I was not one of them.

Clarins Balm Eclate

K: Does anything, I've tried it and mum's tried it. We saw nothing.

Tweezerman Tweezers

K: err not sure why this is the best tweezers in the world. Expensive. It comes with free lifetime warranty for sharpening. Except you have to ship it back to San Francisco.....

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer

K: another poopy product. Everyone goes on and on about this and it did nothing for my hair. AT ALL.

MAC Lipstick in MEHR

k: This is touted at the lipstick that every desi must have. Skip it. It has a horrible texture, the pigmentation is patchy, the formula is drying and the colour changes a lot depending on the light. It alters between pink and purple. Eeew.

Cloud 9 Straighteners

N: We're a GHD family. Have been for years since Kay got hers. When I went away to uni and was going to buy mine, we thought we'd give Cloud 9 a go. Cloud 9 are the people who made GHD, and we expected great things. My problem with the one I had is not how they work as straighteners, but as curlers. We curl our hair using our straighteners, so when I used the Cloud 9's to curl my hair, I was not happy. It tugged on my hair, and was overall not a good experience.

K: I don't hate the Cloud 9's. I think it's OK and use it sometimes when I don't have access to the GHD's but if there's a choice then GHD wins every single time. I don't have as hard a time as Nigar to curl my hair but it does tug. I hate the fact that it has a temperature control that you have to set every single time you turn it on. I always use the highest setting and sometimes forget to change it and some after wondering why my hair isn't curling I realise it's because I forgot to adjust the temperature. It's a chore.

All bloggers went crazy for this when it was originally released (pr samples....) and I fail to see why.

They do have great customer service (our rabbit ate the wire of the Cloud 9's and they offered to replace the wire for free if it was under warranty and if we had proof of purchase (we'd lost the receipt) and we ended up paying £30 for them to replace it and they sent it back within 2 days. I was seriously impressed with that. They are lovely to deal with. For the record mum uses the Cloud 9's as she only every straightens her hair.

Macaroons

N: WTH is the hype with macaroons. Seriously.

K: See above.

What are your over-hyped products?

Ever bought something because the blogosphere went crazy for it only to discover it was poopy and pants. POOPY PANTS.

Love this type of blog post - refreshingly honest! Not everything is going to work for everyone and sometimes that gets lost when you see a lot of people raving about a product online or in magazines. My most over-hyped product at the moment is Clinique's Anti Blemish Clinical Clearing Gel, I've seen a lot of promos for it at the Clinique counters in the shops near me and on the Boots website it has a lot of 5* reviews. I used it and sadly the difference it made was minimal, it's really not the miracle worker everyone's claiming it to be!

I bought the Clearing Gel a few months ago as well. I completely forgot about it. I used it for a while when I was at uni. I haven't noticed any difference, but I don't think I've used it regularly enough to shoot it down.

I don't get the hype about macaroons either! Haha! Great post btw, thanks for the warning about products I had on my wishlist, but now...not so much!There are a few we can agree to disagree about though - I love Benetint. Just have to use it the right way? But I only use it on my cheeks. It's patchy on the lips. As for Clinique's moisturising lotion - I've only used it a few times - so not enough to review it - but I like it. Till now. Let me use it for a month or two, and get back to you!

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